


Garbologist

by Echinoderma



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-27
Updated: 2014-04-27
Packaged: 2018-01-21 01:02:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1531787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Echinoderma/pseuds/Echinoderma
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Ciel has a weird encounter with the garbage man. Modern AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	Garbologist

**Author's Note:**

> just read it

Flies swarm around rank fishgut, yesterday’s dinner warmed in the summer sun for a spell. Ciel is short, for fourteen, and the trash looms over him, worn plastic and stale milk smell that magnifies in the daytime blaze. He rolls it down to the curb, muttering curses under his breath as he hears the roar of the compactor two houses down. Long and winding, his driveway unfolds before him like an asphalt ocean, absorbing the suns rays into tarry black land.

                The teen wipes sweat from his brow, tastes salt on his lips. He tries not to think of what his parents will say if he misses the weekly garbage truck.

                Ciel makes it with only seconds to spare, the garbage truck making a wide turn in the cul-de-sac, screeching to a halt in front of his sweat soaked body. His tongue darts out again to taste warm, wet salt, his shirt clinging to his back, wrinkled and grossly damp. Doves coo from the mess of scrawny forest nearby, and a deer leaps into the shallow brush at the sound of grinding machine.

                Summer.

                The man who greets him as he steps off the side of the truck looks like a tool: black hair that looks almost artfully tousled, pale skin that flushed slightly in the sweltering air, and a thin, regal frame.

  
                “Just in time, little lord.” The garbage man bows slightly before Ciel’s damp gym shorts and rumpled tank top, eyebrow cocked and a wide smile on his lips. “I don’t usually see any humans out this early.”

                Ciel sneers, mostly from the rancid scent of the truck behind them, and stands awkwardly as the garbage man carries the load of rotten trash and empties it, effortlessly, into the compactor.

                "Pretty heavy." He smiles, swiping grime off his gloves. Ciel watches, mesmerized at the stranger’s grace, and wipes at his heated forehead with the back of his hand.

                "I better go." He murmurs. Thanks for taking the trash I guess."

                "Ah, I don’t get many compliments for my job." He winks, and Ciel notices the red, red glare of sunlight on his eyes. "I happen to be one hell of a garbage man."

                Ciel turns away, both of them simmering in the relentless sun, and a query. “This won’t be our last meeting, will it?”

                Ciel spins on his heel to look at him, spindly and ashen against the vivid colors of the August sky, and stops. Obsidian absorbs light like a black hole, a cosmic force trapped in the gentle grasp of earth. A sudden chill runs through him at the sight of this unnatural stranger, spotless despite the constant stream of grime he encountered, flawlessly carved ivory, almost translucent in the light. Frozen, he dares not move under the watchful gaze of the creature before him.

                Cicadas scream in the distance, and slowly, slowly, Ciel’s frigid fear thaws in the humid morning air. 

                "N-no- There’s trash every week, after all. What does that even mean, anyway?"

                "Just for some company. It would be nice, little lord." He says. "I’m Sebastian."

                "… Ciel."

                Sebastian backflips to his spot on the truck’s side, a smear of ink across Ciel’s vision. “Until next week, Ciel.” He waves once, before the vehicle roars to life and, in the passing of a second, disappears.

                He shakes sweat out of his hair, and wonders if the heat is getting to his head.

 


End file.
